what are we full of?

One of my biggest heroes and a person I look forward to meet one day is the Apostle Stephen. The Bible gives very little information about who Stephen was, unlike it does for some of the other more well-known apostles. We do not know where he was from, how he became saved, and what he did for a living. The Bible never tells us of his struggles, his personal aspirations and revelations.

But the Bible tells us one thing and emphasizes it several times: Stephen was a man who was full.

We first meet Stephen in Acts 6. The Church was in its earliest developmental stage, and as the number of disciples increased, so did disputes. The Twelve proposed to choose seven men to take care of the issues, and Stephen, "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" (6:5), was one of them. He, "a man full of God's grace and power" (6:8), then went on to do great wonders and miraculous signs. However, opposition arose and false testimonies were brought against him.

Stephen gave a long speech on the eternal plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. "When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." (7:54-55) The crazed crowd dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death.

It is sobering to ask ourselves how our lives are characterized. More important than how they are seen in the eyes of others is how they are actually lived, and that depends entirely on what we are full of. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart." (6:45) Stephen was a common man, a vessel in the hands of the Potter, who filled him--as He is willing to fill all who give themselves to Him--with the fullness of His Deity (Colossians 2:9), which translates into extraordinary lifetimes of glory and beauty.